Bulletin 13 - March 1981: A New Subspecies of Kingfisher

A New Subspecies of Kingfisher

by Graham S. Cowles

(The White-collared Kingfisher Halcyon chloris abyssinica was first
reported from Arabia in 1973, based on a specimen collected at Khor Kalba in
1962. In 1971 Graham Cowles of the British Museum, Natural History, Tring,
Herts., collected two specimens of a similar kingfisher in the mangrove swamps
in the same locality. Subsequent analysis attributes these to a subspecies -Ed.)

Halcyon chloris kalbaensis

Description: Similar to H.c. abyssinica but differs in
having a well-defined white superciliary stripe extending from the sides of the
forehead to above and past the eye. Above the ear coverts the white superciliary
is suffused with blue-tipped feathers, giving a streaked area of light
blue-green and white. Bill smaller than abyssinica. The upper tail
coverts and rump are more blue-green.

Range: Apparently confined to the coastal mangrove swamps at Khawr
kalba. The nearest population of H. chloris is the race abyssinica,
about 1900km across Arabia to the southwest, on the western coast of the Red
Sea, and H.c. vidali in the opposite direction, about 2000km to
the southeast, across the Arabian Sea in the Ratnagiri district, south of
Bombay, India.

The species H. chloris is distributed over a wide geographical
area and about 49 subspecies are at present recognized. It extends from the Red
Sea coast (abyssinica) at the western extremity of its range, to
Samoa which is the extreme eastern limit. H.c. abyssinica and H.c.
kalbaensis can be distinguished from all other subspecies by clearly
defined differences. Other races show differences in size and overall plumage
coloration. This strongly suggests that the affinities of kalbaensis
lie closer to the west, abyssinica, than to vidali,
or other subspecies from the eastern part of the H. chloris range.